


We Are Not Alone

by rockybluewigs (zekeshaolin)



Series: Breakfast Black Belts [2]
Category: Kickin' It
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Background Het, Bisexual Male Character, Bullying, Canon Het Relationship, Cheerleaders, Child Abuse, Coming Out, F/M, Falling In Love, Female Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gay Male Character, Het, Het and Slash, High School, Homophobia, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Male Friendship, Male Homosexuality, Male-Female Friendship, Martial Arts, Muteness, Sports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-27
Updated: 2013-03-30
Packaged: 2017-12-03 18:25:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/701275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zekeshaolin/pseuds/rockybluewigs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Monday after didn't seem so bad. Unfortunately for these five friends, they face a battlefield of love, friendship, and high school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1/4

It's Monday morning in Seaford, and the high school opens thirty minutes ago. The five students from Saturday detention don't exactly greet each other right away; rather they go to their respective cliques and stay that way. It's not that any of them are scared, it's just that they don't feel the need to talk to each other right now.

However for the school student body, they are shocked, surprised, flabbergasted when a word flies out of the school mute's mouth.

" _Move_ ," he says to the gang, standing in his way towards his first class of the day, math.

The wild-haired freak, known as Frank to the whole school, turns around, and notices Eddie standing there, with a scowl evident on his face. "I said move, you're in my way."

Frank almost backs up at the threatening voice, and his friends around him gasp in total shock. "So you do have a voice, mute."

"Just get out of my way," Eddie repeats.

One of the guys steps in front of Eddie, and smirks. "What if I don't want to? Your newfound voice doesn't scare us."

"Hey," a student yells at the group. "I believe he told you to  _move_."

"What are you going to do about it, ballerina?" Frank steps up in front of Jack getting close to his face; so close that Jack merely backs up due to the foul body odor that elicits from the older guy.

"Funny," Jack says sarcastically. "But I have better moves than you do."

"Really—"

The warning bell interrupts anyone from making the first move, and the gang walks away from the classroom, as well as Jack. However, Frank turns around and offers a childish one finger salute to the athlete. Jack rolls his eyes, and turns his head to Eddie, who has a thankful look.

"Thanks a lot," he says, offering a fist bump to Jack.

"No problem," Jack smirks lopsidedly. "I see the school's not taking your new voice very lightly."

"They'll get used to it," the ex-mute waves off. "How are you and Kim getting along?"

"We haven't talked since Saturday…do you think she's avoiding me?" Jack starts to worry like a girl; particularly because he really likes the cheerleader, and since she promised to show up at the dojo…she didn't come yesterday, so he hopes she can make an appearance today. Since the kiss (or kisses, so to speak,) the athlete hasn't stop thinking about Kim.

"I don't think so, none of us have really talked since Saturday," Eddie clarifies.

"I hope she's okay…"

Eddie rolls his eyes. "Stop worrying so much. I gotta go to class anyway."

"See you later then," Jack waves to Eddie, and speeds off to his first class of the day, still thinking about Kim.

-x-

"Hey Kim!" The blond hears a familiar voice behind her, recognizing the overly strong voice her best friend and her choreographer has. She turns around, watching her best friend Grace power walk over to her with a shocked and amused look.

"'Sup, Grace?" Kim nonchalantly greets.

"So is it true?" Grace smirks. "Are you  _really_  dating Jack Brewer?"

 _Word here spreads faster than Degrassi,_  Kim thought. "Um…I guess—"

"You guess? Kim, there is no 'I guess' here!" Grace exclaims, her face turning to an obvious look of flabbergast from the reply. "Yes or no; come on Kim. You have to tell me."

"I don't know, okay!" The blond sighs in exasperation, feeling the need to rip her hair off. "During Saturday detention, we bonded, and then I kissed him twice that day. I think I like him…but we haven't talked all weekend. I think he doesn't return the favor. Maybe he was being nice to me."

"Wait a minute, you kissed him  _twice_?" Grace shrieks, causing some of the students to turn towards them.

"Can you like, use your inside voice?" Kim grits. "It's bad enough that the entire cheerleading squad knows."

"Dude, the fact that you're dating Jack Brewer makes you almost the coolest girl in school!" Grace says excitedly, literally jumping up and down in questionable glee.

"Again, I'm not sure if we're dating," Kim clarifies.

Grace narrows her eyes; she can never understand how Kim could be so confusing and prude. Then again, Kim hasn't had many great relationships, due to the fact that Kim can never let a guy touch her past first base…or making out. Grace doesn't blame her; that's all they wanted…her virginity. "Come on, Kim. You  _have_  to be dating him. You can't just kiss him twice and call it quits! What if he's… _the one_?"

"You think so?" Kim questions, suddenly getting red when she sees Jack talking to one of his football buddies by the stairs.

"Oh definitely, he's the one baby," Grace smirks, and turns her head towards Jack. "I've never seen a guy make you so red upon seeing him a few feet away."

"That's nothing," the blond mutters. Luckily Grace didn't hear her.

-x-

It's normal for a few people to come late, but for Milton Krupnick, something has to be wrong. Everything is wrong, really. After a large fight with his parents, he spends the entire weekend in his room crying, and since he has no phone to contact anyone, he has to spend every minute in his room, pretending something's alright and that he's completing his homework or something. His parents haven't checked up on him either. All he knows is that he has an emergency therapy session today.

Truth be told, Milton hasn't touched his book bag since he came home from Saturday detention.

The nerd simply over-sleeps until he hears a large door slamming shut, and he realizes that he's late for school. First hour is over and done with, so he has to stay outside until the door opens for the second hour.

"Dude, what happened to you?" One of his friends ask, the minute he leans his head towards the lockers.

"Overslept," Milton croaks, his voice still rusty from crying all weekend.

" _Overslept_? This isn't like you!" The other nerd cries, observing Milton's depressing demeanor. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just leave me alone," Milton lies, and all of his friends comply, going their separate ways to avoid the depressed teen. As soon as they leave, and are out of sight, Milton feels a fresh set of tears threatening to fall.

"There he is." the calming, jovial voice of the badass suddenly makes Milton jump, and wipe his face, devoid of all tears. However, Jerry can already sense that Milton isn't alright. Leaning against the lockers, hiding your face from everyone else - Jerry knew these signs too well to even think that something's alright.

"Alright, come with me," the Hispanic pulls Milton from the lockers, and practically drags him to the storage closet, the same storage closet in which they…had a grand time at.

"What's wrong?" Jerry interrogates, noticing the puffy eyes and the tears threatening to fall from his boyfriend's eyes.

Milton shakes his head, "Nothing, I'm fine. I should go to class—"

"No," Jerry blocks the doorway and the doorknob, preventing the melancholy teen from leaving the closet. "You're not fine. What happened?"

"I had an argument with my parents on Saturday," he reveals. "They took my phone away so I couldn't call you all weekend. They basically scolded me for kissing you, and I have an emergency therapy session today. And, if that's not it, my parents basically called me a  _worthless_  piece of shit."

Upon saying that, Milton sobs quietly, and leans his forehead against Jerry's chest. The Hispanic, not really knowing what to say despite having the same verbal abuse in his own home, wraps his arms around the crying teen. "I know they're going to make me feel worse than I already feel, but my parents will disown me if I don't go."

"No, you can't go!" Jerry exclaims, his anger rising. "They shouldn't even think about disowning you because you refuse to go to conversion therapy."

The pale teen sniffles, feeling bad that he's getting Jerry's shirt wet. "I have to. I don't exactly have a choice. Everyone else in my family quite agrees with my parents' right to send me to therapy."

Jerry never realized that Milton is in a very bad situation, and he doesn't want to exactly end things, but it seems that it would work for the sake of Milton staying in his house and not getting kicked out of his parents' home, being a homeless teen. Jerry would never let his boyfriend spend two minutes in his own home, either, considering the verbal and physical abuse he gets whenever his father decides to come home. "Then maybe we shouldn't—"

"No, I refuse to end things with you because of my parents' homophobia," Milton argues, picking his head up and his blood boiling.

"But, this relationship is making your parents more—"

" _No_ ," the suddenly angry teen growls, with an uncharacteristically mean scowl. "I can't let my parents win this war. I love them, but I also—I mean, I just don't want us to break up because of our parents."

A silence follows it, with the two trying to figure out what to say. It hasn't occurred to them that Milton almost professed his love for the Hispanic standing before him, and it's not important, since they basically have to find a way to beat their parents' hate for their sexuality. The silence breaks when they see the door open, revealing the custodian who grabs the mop and the rolling bucket, ignoring the couple in front of him. After the door closes, they start to laugh; their first shared laugh since Saturday.

"I should really go to class - I missed first hour," the nerd says, breaking the sentimental moment between the two.

"But we will talk about this later, right?" Jerry asks, wiping Milton's face with his bare hands.

Milton nods, but it's halfhearted. Jerry frowns, noticing the halfheartedness in the head shake. "I'm serious, Krupnick."

"Yes," the nerd whispers, and wraps his arms around the other's shoulders in a meaningful hug. Jerry immediately hugs back, fighting back tears of his own.

-x-

The bell rings, signaling lunch time for the Seaford students. They rush inside the cafeteria, except for five other students. Those five students find themselves in the principal's office, since principal Bucket called them inside during their lunch period. They figure they have to spend another Saturday with each other (not that any of the five friends care) or that they are expelled since they lied about the destroyed library on Saturday.

Whatever it is, it has everyone on the edge of their seats.

"I hope none of us are in trouble again," Eddie whispers. "I didn't attempt to cut class again."

"And I haven't done any bad things today…except being late for class," Jerry admits, causing all of the other students to stare at him. "What? I had some business to take care of." He stares sternly at Milton, who hides his face in embarrassment.

"None of you are in trouble," the principal walks in, and takes a seat behind his desk. "I did call you in because I demand to know why none of you did the assignment that was asked."

Although he gave them some slack, principal Bucket is still wondering why they did it that way. These five students that never seen each other before Saturday share a similarity, and the principal has yet to observe it for himself.

"Sir, we just thought that it would be best to write one paper for all of us," Eddie speaks up. The principal is still surprised to hear him speak, but he supposed it has something to do with Saturday. "We thought that since we're all similar in our own way, we would just write about it."

The principal nods, but he still doesn't understand. "And how, pray tell, are you all similar?" He refrains himself from making a mean comment towards Jerry; after the revelation that Jerry has a tough home life, he feels that picking on the supposed badass wouldn't suffice for anyone.

"Well…we're all put in categories because of who we hang out with," Kim explains. "I'm categorized as part of the school's…um, slut list, because I'm a cheerleader, but I never done what the school thinks that I've done, ever in my life. As a matter of fact, I genuinely talk to one of the girls on the team. It's surprising how they still think I'm a slut, because I wear short skirts and I put my hair down…well excuse me for being a girl! Oh, and Grace started the food fight, not me."

"I'm on the football team because my father was star quarterback in this school," Jack continues. "But I don't really like football. My father pushed me to try out for the football team, and I did to make him proud, but it still isn't making him happy because I rebel against it. I just want to do what  _I_  want to do, and stop impressing people."

"Everyone thinks I'm the school's mute because I don't talk," Eddie explains. "But the reason is, I'm just insecure about making friends. Until I met these four, I never felt the need to talk to anyone…mainly because I never had any real friends. People have always abused my kindness when I was young, so I became misanthropic and insecure."

"I don't know why you look at me as a sociopath," Jerry shrugs. "I get physically and verbally attacked by my father because of my sexuality. I really don't need any more of that shit when I get here. And I act out because of it. I never had any relationship with my parents…I hate it when anyone says they hate their mom or dad because they have everything. I have nothing. I  _barely_  have a roof over my head." The Hispanic refrains himself from yelling, and continues. "So I come here, because it's the only place where I don't feel inferior."

Milton shifts in his seat, trying to think of something to say. But the situation at hand makes him tear up. He feels someone's hand intertwining with his own, a reassurance that it's fine and that no one will judge. "I don't know why I seriously got detention…I should have expected something else. The minute you suspect that a nerd is not acting like himself, say, trying to  _self-harm_  himself because the stress of his parents and the conversion therapy, you act upon  _impulse_  and assign Saturday detention. I expected a more sympathetic reaction, like, 'off to the school psychologist' or something. No, instead, I  _waste_  my Saturday in school. But I'm kind of thankful that I did get Saturday detention. I would have never met these four wonderful people, and I avoided another day of therapy. But I still have to deal with my parents sending me to therapy, in which I don't really need because I don't have a disorder…maybe depression, but that's it. And my depression will get worse if my parents will never stop sending me to conversion therapy, because it will never change how I feel. I'm _gay_ , and I think that's okay."

An awkward silence follows, but the principal dismisses the five students to lunch, since they have forty-five minutes left of the hour.

-x-

"Kim, I need to talk to you," Jack catches up to the speeding girl on her way to the cafeteria. Kim reluctantly stops, while the three other students bypass her to get to the cafeteria. They look back and wave to Kim, with obvious smirks on their faces.

"What's up?" The cheerleader asks, turning her body over to Jack.

"Why are you avoiding me?" He questions, causing Kim to raise both of her eyebrows. So he did catch on… "I thought we were friends."

"I was busy," Kim lies quickly. "I had to finish an assignment with Grace, and cheerleader stuff, you know. Being a popular student and all…"

"If you haven't noticed, I'm popular too…by default," he mutters the last sentence, but quickly glares at Kim. "If you didn't want to talk to me, you could have just said so."

"No, that's not what I meant!" Kim exclaims, trying to stop Jack from walking away. The athlete waves her off and keeps walking. "Jack, please—"

"No," Jack stops, and turns around, glaring at Kim. "I thought you aren't like the rest. You basically lead me on, thinking that we had something on Saturday, and now you avoid me, and you don't want to talk to me until I have to confront you in the middle of the hallway—"

"I know, and I'm so sorry," Kim cries; the most sincere apology she's ever had to say to anyone she likes a lot. "I just…I was scared, okay? I didn't know if you liked me as much as I liked you, and that you only were being nice to me because I'm a cheerleader, and a prude, and I never really had a relationship where I felt strong feelings for the guy, and he actually wants to talk to me and  _not_  get in my pants…and - and, please Jack. I just - I can't afford to lose you, especially when we get along so much!"

Jack notices the honesty in the girl's voice, and immediately feels bad. He never meant to make Kim feel this bad. "Kim…I'm  _not_  that type of guy. I thought you knew that."

"I know... but I'm still insecure - I  _never_  met a guy like you, you know?" She explains further.

Jack smiles; he immediately feels special, knowing that Kim never had one guy in which she can have a conversation with, and have feelings for at the same time. All she wants is a real boyfriend, or a real guy friend at least, the athlete thought. However, they like each other too much to be friends. He walks over to the crying teen and pulls her closer to his chest. Kim hugs back, noticing the reassurance around the guy.

"Don't hurt me, okay?" The cheerleader whispers.

"I promise - I'll  _never_  hurt you." The athlete then raises Kim's chin up, and kisses her reassuringly.

-x-

It's the end of the day, and a station wagon awaits in front of the school. Milton always fears that station wagon. He knows what it means - therapy. He definitely doesn't want to go, and Jerry doesn't want him to go. He's pretty sure that none of his new friends want him to go, but after the argument with his parents, he has two choices - get kicked out, or attend therapy.

He steps inside the car quietly, ignoring any type of greeting from his parents. He just wants to get this over with, go home, and lock himself in his room, the only place he feels safe until he goes to school the next day. It doesn't matter; his parents never acknowledge Milton's presence, and speed off to the therapy clinic.

Jerry watches the station wagon pull itself from the curb, and holds back his tears. He never wants to see any of his friends, or anyone he cares about, go somewhere in which they have to change what they really are. He understands therapy for disorders like manic depression, or substance addiction maybe, but for homosexuality, is beyond the angry teen.

"Yo Jerry, where have you been all day?" His friend Frank yells at him.

"Busy," the badass half-lies; he's been busy going to class and trying to help his boyfriend and his constant battle with his insensitive parents.

"Pulling wedgies, eh?" The idiotic older boy jokes. "Anyway, you coming with us? We're gonna hang out at Falafel Phil's."

It's a tempting offer; the dojo Jack mentioned on Saturday is adjacent to the halal food restaurant, but is that the only reason why he wants to hang out with his friends today? Or is it because he wants to also get his mind out of how Milton is dealing with therapy, or to get away from his distant mother and abusive father?

"Yeah, I'll come."

Jack walks inside the dojo, telling Kim to wait outside. He wants to surprise the students with a female student that's not the lunch lady.

"Hey guys!" He greets the small group sitting on the place mats. There's only two students excluding himself and the lunch lady - Brody, an ex-Black Dragon, and Carson. They're the only young students in the dojo, but they surprisingly attend Swathmore, a rival school of Jack's school, Seaford High. Besides Jack being a black belt, they're both one step towards getting their black belt, and Jack's the only black belt student.

"What's up Jack?" Brody greets.

"You look like you're in a good mood," the sensei Rudy points out.

"I got a new person to join the dojo!" As if that was a signal to walk in, Kim suddenly steps inside the dojo, ignoring the faint smell of sweat and stands next to Jack, with an amused look on her face.

"Guys, this is…" He stops, and stares at Kim, who rolls her eyes and waves him off. "This, is my  _girlfriend_  Kim."

"Hi Kim," the boys wave at the blond, who waves back.

"Kim, these are the other students, Brody and Carson," Jack says, pointing to each of the students. "They're almost upgrading to their first black belts. And, I assume you know who this is," he points over to Rudy, who has an eccentric smile on his face.

"Oh, so  _this_  is Rudy," Kim holds back her laughter.

"What have you told her about me?" The sensei questions, feeling insecure about Kim's amusement in this situation.

"Nothing," Kim answers for herself. "I just…I've seen your commercials. You're basically a crack-up with my friends." She looks over to the younger guys. "How come I've never seen you guys before?"

"Oh, we go to Swathmore Academy," Carson replies. "My parents don't really like Seaford High."

"Same here," Brody agrees. "I also was a Black Dragon, but they cheat, so I continued my training here. I'm better off getting belts I deserve than getting belts because I look good. The sensei's more of a nutcase over there than this one."

"Wow, that  _almost_  meant something," Rudy says sarcastically.

"As for me, I've been here since birth," Carson smiles. "I was Rudy's first student."

"So you're second," Kim points to Brody, who nods in reply. "And, you're third?"

"Nope, I'm fourth, if you count the lunch lady," Jack snorts.

"I stand corrected," Kim drawls.

"So Kim," Carson smirks. "We should see what you can do... Or are you starting as a white belt?"

"I don't know," Kim shrugs. "It's been so long since I've done any karate, and I'm probably a little rusty—"

"How long?" The sensei asks.

"Three years exact," Kim replies.

"Tell you what," Jack turns over to his girlfriend with a smile. "If you can beat one of us, without using any tools…just your natural talent, then you will get the black belt. If not, then we'll start you off with a green belt. How does that sound?"

"That sounds reasonable," Rudy shrugs.

"What? I came here and I started with a yellow belt!" Brody exclaims.

"That's because you couldn't break a single board," Jack points out. "Come on Kim, let's spar."

"You and me?  _Together_?" The blond asks frantically, afraid that the black belt would hurt her, or worse, she might hurt him. "Uh—"

"Come on, I won't hurt you," Jack smiles genuinely. "But I  _won't_  go easy on you."

"Alright, but don't be surprised when—" the sentence is cut short when Jack throws the first punch, and Kim quickly throws her head to the side, blocking the punch effectively. "Oh, so that's how you want to play it, Brewer." The blond quickly sidesteps, blocking the second punch, and grabs Jack's arm. She flips the boy effectively on the mat, but he gets up suddenly. The other boys, and the sensei watch in awe as the high school couple throw and block a series of punches and chops, mostly Kim blocking most of the throws on her. Without even noticing, Kim delivers a kick in mid-air, throwing everyone, even Jack, off, and he suddenly gets hit with the blow and crashes on the place mat.

"Wow," Kim gasps, helping Jack from the floor. "I'm good! Any more takers?"

Both Brody and Carson back up with their hands in the air, signaling defeat. "Oh come on, you Swathmore babies! Let's go!"

"How about we test your ability to break a board?" The sensei asks, holding up a piece of wood in front of him. Kim shrugs, and takes a deep breath, before focusing on the board. She hasn't broke a board in years, despite the one time she broke the wooden table in school in frustration. She focused on that, and she channels some of her energy on the board, breaking it effectively with her fist.

"Well…?" Kim raises her eyebrow.

"Welcome to the dojo!" The sensei exclaims happily, albeit being a little scared of her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin' It.

Therapy has never been so stupid, Milton thought as he sits by himself in the therapist's room. The emergency therapy session's been made since Saturday, since his mom saw him passionately kiss Jerry in front of the school. The argument before the therapy session is made hurt the teen, since his parents basically told him how much of a worthless piece of shit he is, and that he can't be gay because he's come from a family of straight individuals. It saddens him how his whole family can think so as well. He has to put a stand to this.

"Hello Mr. Krupnick, a surprise to see you here today," the therapist smiles at the depressed teen who forms a scowl on his face.

"I'm pretty sure my fuck-up parents  _called_  you to have me here," Milton sneers, with his usual hatred for the therapist in front of him.

"They only bring you here because they love you," the therapist calmly states, in which Milton snorts ridiculously at the statement.

"If they love me, I wouldn't be here," Milton argues. "So what if I'm gay? I can't help that I love a guy, and I can't help that I see a future with said guy!"

"You're making no progress here Milton," the therapist frowns. "You're supposed to repress those feelings and never have them again. That's the point of this. What you have is unnatural."

"And who the fuck are you to tell me that?  _Sigmund Freud_?" The angry teen yells. "Fuck you for even saying that! I know that I will be as unhappy as you if I dared to go on with this monstrosity you call an ex-gay therapy."

"I happen to be very happy with my life," the therapist calmly clarifies.

Milton scoffs. "And I happen to be very happy with mine, that is, if my parents can stop being homophobic and realize their only son is happy with another man."

"They're not being good parents if they accept this unnatural feeling," the therapist bluntly puts. "You are a young boy - you don't know what love is. You don't know what you want—"

"I know I want to get the hell out of this place," Milton sneers.

"—maybe you should think about how this is going to affect your future. Are you going to have a family, just by being with a man?" The therapist tries to reason, but Milton isn't having any of it.

"A family," Milton snorts. "Really, is that the best you can come up with? You're acting like gays are sterile. I'm pretty sure I can adopt, or have surrogate mothers."

"That's not the same as having that special woman, giving birth to your child that you know you two are going to take care for—"

"It may not be the same, but it will feel pretty damn close," Milton argues back.

"— and what about those times, when you're denied something because of you and your partner?" The therapist argues back.

"This is  _California_ ," Milton states. "I'm pretty sure I can't be discriminated due to my sexuality. And if I do, there's plenty of places I can go where I can express my love freely to... to the man I love." Fearing of saying his boyfriend's name, he tries to cover it. "And not you, or my parents, or a bunch of homophobes, are going to change that."

Without hearing the therapist's constant protests, Milton angrily storms out of the office, and walks over to the nearest place where he can breathe as of right now. Fuck his parents, and the therapist, and anyone who denies his right to love. He can't believe his therapist would try to go there. He knows that the therapist would not win, especially with Milton's knowledge of things like that. A family, please, that's the least of his worries right now. He has a boyfriend, and school to worry about. Speaking of said boyfriend, he sees the Hispanic sitting by himself at the bench near the bus stop, with his head down.

"Jerry?" He asks. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking," Jerry says quickly.

"You don't wanna go home, do you?" Milton queries, applying himself next to Jerry, pulling him closer.

Jerry shakes his head. "My father is over there. I know he's going to... he's going to—"

"It's okay, you don't have to say it," Milton sighs, and places a soothing hand on his boyfriend's back.

"How was therapy?" Jerry questions.

"Same old bullshit," Milton shrugs, and starts laughing sardonically. "This time, he says I can't create a family because of my homosexuality. Please, that's the least of my worries right now—"

"Do you want to make a family one day?" Jerry asks, his curiosity getting the best of him.

Milton bites his lip carefully. "I do... eventually. That's one thing I want when I get older... but, I - I don't know yet. I'm only sixteen, Jerry. I have many years to think about that."

Jerry nods in understanding. "Yeah, any family would be better than the family I have."

The two smile and stare at each other - they're pretty sure that the silent staring meant that they can get through this together, no matter what. They love each other too much to leave each other's side, and Milton would never let Jerry go home, and experience the 'conversion therapy' he's been experiencing since Jerry told his father. He would  _never_ ; but their dream is short-lived since they realize that they're only sixteen and they can't do anything, but hope for the best. They both share a long, loving kiss a minute after.

-x-

"That was awesome!" Kim cheers, wiping the sweat off of her forehead and walking alongside Jack to her car parked across the street from the mall.

"I know - I can't believe you  _beat_  Rudy," Jack chuckles.

"He was asking for it!" The blond exclaims, opening the door to the driver's side. Jack immediately calls shotgun, despite the fact that no one else would be sitting there. "I mean, he was just boasting about his 'accomplishments' and saying how he has never been beat by a girl!"

"That's how he is!" Jack exclaims back.

Kim shrugs, and starts to pull away from the curb. "Oh well, he's a nutcase!"

"Again, that's how he is."

Kim drives off, hoping they can get home since it's a little late, not the normal time they usually come home. Both parents don't really care, but when homework comes into play... "So, are you going to continue with football?"

"I don't think so," Jack shrugs. "However, my father would hate me if I chose karate over football."

"But, you obviously enjoy karate," Kim frowns, keeping her vision on the street with her impeccable multitasking. "I've never seen you so happy to fight against any of those wussies. You're on the field and you're good, but when you're dueling against anyone, you're  _better_."

"That makes me feel so much better," Jack says sarcastically.

"Oh come off it, Brewer," Kim laughs. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Would you quit cheerleading, now that you're doing karate again?" The athlete questions.

"No," Kim scowls. "Cheerleading is fun. And I must admit... I love being watched."

"Wow, I've never seen a narcissistic side of you," Jack chides.

"Shut up." The blond turns a corner, and stops at the house that Jack tells her to stop at. "I'll see you at school, yeah?"

"Yeah," the athlete smiles, and after a quick peck on the lips, he jumps out of the car (literally) and waves to his girlfriend, before walking inside his house. His parents don't even look at him, but as soon as he puts his foot down on one step, his father calls after him.

"Yeah dad," the teen replies.

"Why are you so late?" His father walks up to him. It's not even seven yet, Jack thought, but refrains from saying it out loud.

"I stayed at the dojo for a few more minutes," the teen says honestly, in which he receives a scowl from his father. "I know what you're going to say—"

"I don't want you doing that... thing anymore," the man frowns. "You need to do a  _real_  sport."

"He is doing a  _real_  sport," his mom interrupts the upcoming argument. "I did martial arts, my father did martial arts, it's a great sport. Jack should be able to do what he likes, which is martial arts. He would never come this late for football, albeit it's not really late."

"Martial arts is not a real sport," the man argues.

"Can I just go to my room, I'm tired," Jack sighs, trying to easily get away from the situation.

His mother waves him off, but his father refuses to make him walk up the stairs by grabbing his sports jacket. "You need to make a choice son. Martial arts, or football."

"Oh come on, that's unreasonable," his mother frowns.

"It is reasonable; we're making him choose what he wants to do," the man replies.

"Can I take a rain check until I'm ready to answer?" The teen asks, trying to avoid the question.

"Yes you may, you can go upstairs dear," his mother releases her husband's grip on Jack, and dismisses him up the stairs. Jack takes the initiative to sprint up the stairs, but not noticing the angry glare from his father. Jack is nowhere near ready to choose between karate or football, even though his heart is choosing karate. He can't disappoint, but he mentioned earlier to the principal his distress offer impressing people. Hopefully his father can still appreciate him for being a martial arts student, and not a stupid athlete.

"Hey mom, have you seen my black belt?" Kim yells as soon as she gets home from dropping off Jack. The eccentric sensei insists that he would find a black belt for her, but after remembering that she might have one lying somewhere, she tells him it's no trouble.

"No... You're taking karate again?" Her mom walks in, with a raised eyebrow and drying her hands with a towel.

"Yeah - I think I will enjoy it again like I used to, you know?" Kim smiles.

The young single mother of one nods in understanding; Kim's always been an active girl, from sports to dancing, no time for girly dolls. She always appreciated that side of Kim, mainly because she doesn't have to waste money on dolls that she knows Kim isn't going to play with. "It should be in your storage, but are you sure it's going to fit—"

"Mom, it's only been three years. Belts don't shrink," Kim laughs. "And I certainly haven't gotten any bigger."

Her mom raises an eyebrow. " _Suuuure_. Just check your storage." And with that, she turns back around to the kitchen.

"Are you calling me fat?" All Kim could hear is a snort, but she knows her mom doesn't mean it.

-x-

Eddie waltzes inside the almost empty school the next day, with a confidence that maybe his friends can get together. He hasn't called them (since he doesn't have their numbers,) and he's pretty sure everyone has their own problems to deal with. The only thing he has to worry about, is the idiots in his school, especially Frank and his idiots, excluding Jerry.

Eddie stands by his locker, watching some of the early students (mostly the nerds) patrolling the halls idly, talking about an upcoming test they have to take. With his newfound voice, he isn't really sure if he's ready to get over the blatant misanthropy. Due to years upon years of being disliked, even for his optimistic attitude, he swore off people like the plague, and that's when the mutism started. But now after the confidence to speak up due to his new friends, he feels that he can talk to anyone. However, it's not as easy as he thinks.

"Hey Eddie," he hears someone say behind him. He suspects it's someone from Saturday, however, it's a girl voice, and it's definitely not Kim. He turns around, noticing Grace walking towards him.

"Oh - hey Grace," he greets shyly.

"So, uh... d'you have the answer to the last question from our English worksheet?" Grace asks with a smile on her face.

"Yeah - it was a tough question, wasn't it?" The ex-mute nods, and pulls his worksheet from his bag. "I had to reread the chapters in order to get the answers."

"Oh, I was going to use SparkNotes, but I decided against it," Grace jokes.

"Nah, SparkNotes doesn't even have the answer," Eddie frowns. "I checked yesterday."

"Well, that saved my chances of going there... ever," Grace deadpans.

The two start chuckling and discussing the English assignment in front of them, while waiting for their class to start. Normally, they wouldn't talk to each other, but after Eddie 'found his voice', the cheerleader can finally talk to him efficiently. Of course with the female's reputation, she isn't sure if a friendship would be great for the two. However, she wants Eddie to see past her reputation.

Within hours, the school is full with students, and during lunch time, the five students, surprisingly, find themselves sitting at a table together. They ignore the cold, confused stares from their friends and by other students who probably glorify them.

"I'm not used to this," Kim reveals. After being optimistic about being friendly on Saturday, she's pretty sure everyone can agree with her.

"Me neither," Eddie agrees.

"Guys, come on!" Jack sighs. "We're all friends here."

"From different cliques!" Kim points out. "It's okay if we hang out, but seriously... I didn't expect the whole school to be so cold towards this."

"This is surprising, coming from the girl who didn't want us to  _break up_ ," Jack snorts.

Kim sneers at her boyfriend, "Shut up."

"You guys are like an old married couple," Jerry chuckles.

The two couple scowl at him, which causes the badass to be taken aback. "What? I'm serious!"

"Exactly," they say in unison.

Normally the students would have ignored them, but they keep staring, except for a few students who ignore them, including Grace. Suddenly, Jerry's old friends start to walk up towards the five some, with angry looks on their faces. "Jerry, what the  _hell_  are you doing, hanging out with these losers?"

Jerry freezes; he didn't expect for Frank or any of his stupid friends to care, or to even be around the cafeteria. They usually spend their school time in the back of the school or something. "Uh, I don't know, they just sat here and started talking," the teen says sarcastically, but Frank's stupidity makes Jerry look like Einstein, since he can't comprehend sarcasm.

"Oh, well they should move then—"

"Oh my god, he was being sarcastic!" Milton rolls his eyes.

"Shut up nerd, and stop using  _big words_!" Frank exclaims, causing the five students to start laughing.

"This is why I stopped talking," Eddie mutters.

Frank's frown gets deeper, and he glares at Jerry. "Are you seriously hanging with these losers?"

"I guess so," Jerry shrugs, secretly grabbing onto Milton's hand for support.

"Good luck, king loser!" Frank laughs, smacking the table and walking away from the five students, who exhale in relief. Despite losing the only friends he's had before Saturday, Jerry has never felt so relieved, ever in his life. _One less idiot to take care of_ , he thought.

"I can't believe you were friends with  _that_  idiot!" The comment, albeit being serious and true, makes everyone in the table break out in laughter.

-x-

_Avoiding therapy has never felt so good_ , Milton thought as he, instead of waiting for his parents to pick him up, decides to walk home. He doesn't even live far from home, but he knows that avoiding therapy would cause his parents to kick him out, or at least, stay with other relatives who would do the same. He has to talk to them... now or never.

As he steps inside his home, he notices how quiet and eerie the surrounding is. "Too quiet," Milton whispers, and starts to look around the house. His parents aren't always home, but they at least drop some things off before picking Milton up from school. As he looks at the last place, which is his parents' room, the front door starts to open, and he immediately panics.

"Shit shit shit!" The slurs fly out of his mouth in a rush, and he tries to find a way to hide without his parents finding him. However, he realizes that he left his bag downstairs and mentally slaps himself on the forehead.

He hears his name being shouted a few seconds later, and he simply gives up, going downstairs to his obviously outraged parents.

"Why weren't you at the school?"

Milton doesn't flinch at the harsh tone; rather he holds back an angry, mean scowl, and keeps his look of indifference. He doesn't want to appear angry, but he doesn't want to submit to his parents' orders to 'change' him. "Because I don't need therapy."

"You're going, no exceptions."

"I refuse," Milton frowns. "Look, don't you think this is going a little too far? Ever since you two saw me on Saturday, you've been harder on me—"

"Your feelings are unnatural, and we can't sit here and tolerate... this," his mother calmly tries to explain and tries to put a hand on her son, but Milton angrily flinches from the touch.

"Then you can't  _tolerate_  me," the teen relents. "I didn't want this. I didn't ask for this. It's not my choice... all my life I thought this was a chemical imbalance that would fade away when I get older. But now, I'm older, and it's not going away. Maybe you should be happy for me that I—"

"This isn't something to be happy about!" His father yells.

"Then whatever, don't be happy for me!" Milton yells back. "Just support me. This... this isn't healthy. I can't just  _repress_  my homosexuality and live a happy life. I don't know one person who tried and succeeded."

"But if you keep this up, then we failed—"

"You failed as a  _parent_?" Milton scoffs, holding back obscenities. "The only way you have failed as a parent is by kicking me out because I'm gay, not because you raised me right and suddenly I chose the other team. No. You're probably on the road to failure right now, sending me to therapy. You keep doing it, and you keep failing. That's how it is."

Both of his parents look at each other worryingly; they never expected their only son to fight back. They only want what's best of him but it seems like he's choosing the wrong route in life. They don't want to kick him out either. "We're just concerned about you."

"I'm still the same little boy," Milton cries. "Just... I don't know, I like boys. Does that really make me bad?"

Both parents sigh. He does have a point, they thought almost at the same time. Maybe they could lay off? Time would tell. "I guess you're right. We should cancel any further um... appointments. But, we're still trying to understand this—"

"Thanks," the teen smiles genuinely, holding back tears of joy. "That's all I need to know."

After a whole day of glares from the other students, Kim looks forward going to cheer practice today since she doesn't have to go to practice. Despite her love for martial arts, she also loves cheerleading. It's the only way she can deliver her own ideas towards what the team should do. Plus, the sport makes her feel girly... and like she mentioned idly to her boyfriend, she loves being watched.

However, as the teen walks over to the gym, awaiting a practice to take over, her cheerleading team stand before her, with unreadable looks on their faces.

"Oh, so you guys are ready!" Kim smiles, and starts to drop her bag to the floor to start practice.

"Not exactly," one of the girls say efficiently.

"What?" Kim raises an eyebrow.

"Uh... Kim," Grace starts. "We had an emergency meeting earlier... and as much as I  _hate_  to say this, you can't be captain anymore... As a matter of fact, you're off the team."

"What?" She repeats, with more confusion. Who else would lead the girls during games? If anything, Kim makes a great leader to the team. "Who is going to be head cheerleader then?"

"We took a vote, and decided that I should be head cheerleader," Grace says rather guiltily, rather than being happy and triumphant about it. "Trust me, I didn't want to do this—"

"Then why did you do it?" Kim growls, demanding to know why her own friend decides to kick her off the team. "Don't be scared, tell me the truth."

"We saw you hanging out with losers—"

"I got this!" Grace yells, silencing one of the cheerleaders. "We thought it would be best that you stay off the team, but trust me, I don't want us to stop being friends—"

"Complete bullshit," Kim yells. "You knew how much I loved cheerleading, and you took that from me. But it's fine; this is one less issue I have to worry about. And you can forget about us being friends." The angry blond storms out of the gym, never looking back at the now crying choreographer.

The blond keeps walking outside, and stops in front of her car. She couldn't feel more shitty than she does now; she's been kicked off the cheerleading squad - the only sport where she can feel good about herself, but after carefully thinking about it, she sighs and drops her duffel bag in the back seat of her car, and moves quickly to drive over to the dojo, where she, hopefully, can see her new friends over there.

-x-

"Someone looks angry—"

" _Shut up_!" Kim growls, and drops her duffel bag in the locker. Despite the weight being lifted from her shoulders now that she doesn't have to worry about two things at the same time, it still hurts how her ex-best friend would assign a secret meeting to kick her off. How dare she?

"Do you want to talk about it?" Brody asks calmly, trying not to anger the girl even more than she is.

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Kim argues. "That little  _bitch_ ; she wanted to be head cheerleader all along! She has the _audacity_ to ask for my hand in forgiveness, after _that_ despicable display? Oh ho ho, she has another thing coming!"

"I know, right?' Carson idly replies, getting a glare from both Brody and Kim. "What?"

"I gave her everything; I even got in trouble because of that two-timer! How dare she?" Kim starts to pace, without even noticing.

"Uh... you took martial arts  _and_  cheerleading?" Carson asks stupidly. "I'm surprised your legs hasn't given out due to the extensive work!"

"That's nothing." The blond growls, scaring both of the brown belts. "I can do two things at the same time."

"Well I can't," Carson shrugs. "Martial arts and cheerleading? Ain't nobody got time for that."

Kim rolls her eyes, and starts attacking the sparring dummy in front of her. "I just can't believe I lost one of my best friends. I thought I can trust her. Ugh, she's like everyone else!" Upon saying that, she kicks the dummy so hard that the head merely tears off and the rest of the dummy falls on the floor.

"What happened?" Jack questions after walking in.

"Your girlfriend's throwing a fit," Brody lamely explains, in which he receives a slap across his temple from the said angry girlfriend. "I mean... you should talk to her about it..."

"I've been kicked off the cheerleading squad today," she sighs. "And, not only that, the bitch Grace still wants to be friends with me, even though she takes my place as head cheerleader."

"I'm so sorry," Jack tries to reason, although he's a little confused. He thought Kim would leave the team after being part of the dojo.

"Oh, and sorry for the dummy. It was defective anyway," Kim grimaces, pointing at the broken dummy behind her. "But I'll get over it. She just better hope karma doesn't bite her."

"Yeah, that karma can be a total bitch," Carson says stupidly.

The comment, albeit being coincided with karma's true nature, makes the other teens glare at Carson. The student shrugs defensively, saying, "What!"


	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin' It.

"Hey again," the new head cheerleader greets Eddie, almost every morning for the past week. Since the first time they talked to each other, they have bonded, but due to the nature of Kim being his friend, they only talk to each other before school, and during English class.

"Hey Grace, what's up?"

Grace only smiles as a reply. "Did you do the English homework? It was kind of hard when I did it."

"I'm pretty sure no one else did it either," the ex-mute chuckles. "I had a hard time with it as well."

"Say, you want to come over to my house and discuss the book later?" She asks, hoping that Eddie would say yes. Although she would never admit, she really likes the guy standing before her. It's a lame attempt for a date, but anything is better than nothing.

"Yeah, I guess..." Eddie smiles.

"Great, it's a—I  _mean_ , I'll see you later then." Grace grimaces, feeling the embarrassment of a very close Freudian slip. She waves at Eddie then walks away, with a very deep blush on her face.

"Oh shit," Jerry smirks, slapping Eddie on the back. "You got a date with a cheerleader... no,  _the_  cheerleader. I'm proud of you, bro."

Eddie frowns. "I don't know what you're talking about. She just asked me to go over to her house for homework help."

"Yeah  _sure_ ," Jerry rolls his eyes.

"What makes you the expert on all girls?" Eddie asks. "You're dating Milton, a  _guy_."

"I"m bi, you idiot. I've been with girls before." Jerry says defensively. "That's an excuse to hang out with you more, because the girl is interested. You are so lucky! You should get ready for this occasion."

"It's not a date!"

"What's not a date?" Both of the two boys freeze, hearing Kim's questionable voice behind them. Of course the gang knows of Kim being kicked off the team, and Kim's been avoiding Grace since, however, she doesn't know that Eddie agrees to hang out with the newfound head cheerleader.

"Oh, Eddie has a date with—" the sentence is blocked with Eddie's hand, immediately silencing Jerry. Kim raises an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Well, with who?"

"Oh, no one important," Eddie waves off nervously, hoping that Kim wouldn't go into this issue deeper. He fears that Kim would freak out just because he's hanging out with her ex-best friend.

"Come on, we're all friends here."

"Not exactly," Jerry clarifies, slapping Eddie's hand from his mouth. "You're dating Jack, I'm dating Milton—"

"Shut up," Kim quips. "Come on, Eddie. Tell me."

"I'm not really on a date with Grace—"

" _Say what now_?" The blond shrieks. "You're going on a date with  _her_?"

"It's not a date, we're just going to discuss homework—"

" _Homework_ ," Kim says sardonically. "I knew her for over three years. She isn't a 'discuss homework only' type of girl. Don't tell me you  _like_  her."

"Not like that," Eddie lies. "I think of her as a classmate, nothing else."

"Oh, good, good," Kim sighs in relief. She doesn't want any of her friends to date Grace, only because the girl is a certified commitment-phobe who would break any guy's heart who wants anything more than sex. Albeit being her friend before, Kim never really understood Grace's fear of commitment. "She'll break you in pieces."

"How?" Both Eddie and Jerry question, out of curiosity.

"She doesn't like commitment," Kim explains. "Every time she meets a guy, she just sleeps with them and forgets them like the guy's name is on her short-term memory. It's best to just be a one night stand with her. If she ever liked someone genuinely, she would avoid them as well."

"Maybe she's trying to get over it?" Jerry raises an eyebrow.

Kim shakes her head. "Nope, not gonna happen. Well it doesn't matter - we're not friends anymore. But you shouldn't date her."

It doesn't matter anyway - Grace hears the entire conversation, and while not being surprised that Kim says that about her, she's still hurt. She betrays her best friend for over three years, and Grace wishes she can take it back. But Grace knows it would be almost pointless to gain Kim's trust back. She just wants people to see her in a different light - not the slut that everyone thinks she is. She's just tired of finding the one that wants to get inside her pants. She knows Eddie isn't that way, and that's the main reason why she likes the ex-mute. Also because he's smart and quiet... she has to admit, she likes the quiet ones the best. She sighs quietly and walks over to her class.

-x-

Since he basically quit the badass scene, Jerry comes to school, mainly to get away from his father's fists, and now, he actually pays attention in his class and actually goes there. It's not that he wants to; if he doesn't step his game up, then he would be living with his parents forever, until they die of some sickness or substance overdose, would be a better way to put it.

What really brightens his day today is the smile on his boyfriend's face - he almost knows that something's right and that he has to find out what.

"You're in a good mood today," he greets Milton and wraps his arms around the other's waist, despite the rules of public displays of affection between them. Instead of the other smiling and relaxing against the hug, Milton jumps and unclasps from Jerry's grip.

"Holy Christmas nuts, way to scare someone, Jerry," Milton frowns halfheartedly. "Since you're so concerned, my parents decide that the 'conversion therapy' is unethical and I'm no longer going to them."

"That's great!" Jerry exclaims, immediately hugging the teen for a short time.

"I know, it's a  _start_ ," Milton smiles, feeling warm from the short hug. Even with the affectionate hug from before, they still have to keep somewhat of a low profile. Not that anyone cares, but Jack was right about them on Saturday - what would everyone think if the badass is suddenly cozy with the nerd? It would be a paradox to Milton's friends, and well, Jerry wouldn't be surprised if he sports any more bruises from Frank and his old cronies.

"We should celebrate for this occasion!" The Hispanic jokes, with a suggestive grin.

"Oh no - I  _refuse_  to let you do what you did to me that Saturday," Milton frowns.

" _You_  were screaming my name," Jerry smirks triumphantly, remembering the moment inside the storage closet. "And, you said I was great."

"I believe I said you were  _good_ ," the nerd points out, receiving a glare from Jerry. "Wait a minute; I didn't even say it."

"Because you were amazed at my skills. You were surprisingly... not quick, despite your inexperience."

Milton rolls his eyes; the double entendre conversation simply makes him unamused, but it was an... amazing, moment for the inexperienced teen. "You are so full of yourself."

"But you love me," Jerry says mindlessly, but the small flirty joke arises a small silence between the two. If they were to say they love each other, it would be true, but since they've been dating for a week and a half, it would be simply too early for them to say so.

"Whatever," Milton waves it off, ignoring the seriousness that can possibly be hidden. He looks around, and noticing that no one's particularly looking, he kisses the other teen quickly. "I got class."

"Okay see you later." After Milton leaves, Jerry sighs exasperatingly; he knows he fell for the nerd way too fast, and now he has to deal with the consequences of saying absolutely nothing just so the relationship won't crumble. Shit, shit, shit. He knows that repressing that particular feeling - love - would never work for longer than a few hours.

-x-

"Hey can I talk to you two?"

Jack and Kim look at Jerry incredulously; even though they're friends, it's still a surprise to see that the experienced ex-badass would want any help from the popular teens. Then again, it doesn't hurt to help.

"Sure..." Kim replies skeptically. "What is it?"

Jerry takes a deep breath and casts his head down. The situation isn't particularly easy, even for anyone who falls so easily and so quickly. Maybe it's because Jerry hasn't had any closeness with anyone he's ever met, even with his parents, but that doesn't mean he would fall for someone so easily. If anything, Jerry expects trust issues and a fear of commitment - a string of girls and guys pounding him for some attention.

"Have you two ever been in love?"

The question startles the couple; they never expected Jerry to ask such a question. Then again, maybe it's the reputation that he had before the Saturday they all met each other. They can answer the question, but it wouldn't really help the teen in obvious distress.

"Why the sudden question?" Jack questions.

Jerry sighs in exasperation - "Why did I even ask you two..."

"Wait," the couple say in unison.

"It's just so sudden... you know?" Kim tries to explain. "Do you mean... with each other?"

"Not necessarily," Jerry clarifies.

Kim nods, hiding her look of relief. "Okay then... not really."

"I haven't either," Jack replies.

"Is this about—"

"Yeah... it is," Jerry sighs, almost regretting telling the two of them. They don't know how it feels, but they are his only friends to talk about this. Eddie's also his friend, but his misanthropy makes it unnecessary to even ask the question.

"I'm pretty sure he loves you too," Jack tries to reason. "I mean, I don't know anything about him personally before we met each other, but ever since Saturday, I've never seen him so...  _lively_."

"Yeah, I mean... you did break a barrier within him on Saturday," Kim says. "And, you're a good person - despite the reputation you had before all of this. I mean, you still stand strong from the verbal abuse from principal Bucket and your parents, and you stand up for us against your own clique. You obviously love him, and he undeniably loves you too. If he doesn't love you, or feel thankful for all the things you've done for him, then I would have to get a bow staff and—"

"That's enough, Kim," Jack silences her quickly before she says anything vulgar. "And she's right; I don't see why he wouldn't love you."

"But don't you think it's too soon?" Jerry asks.

The couple glance at each other before looking back at Jerry. "Yes and no," they say in unison.

"Yes because you two met each other almost two weeks ago," Kim explains.

"No because love works in mysterious ways and anyone can fall in love at any given time," Jack explains further.

"Well that's a clichéd way to put it, Jack," Kim retorts.

"Oh, then say something better."

Kim rolls her eyes. "Basically, what we're trying to say is... simply follow your heart."

"Oh, and that's not clichéd? Might as well tell him to admit the world—"

"You got one more strike, Brewer," Kim growls.

"Oh, I'm  _so_  scared," Jack says sarcastically.

"You two are such a married couple!" Jerry laughs, finding the situation comical. "You know what, thanks for lifting my spirits - and the help. I knew I can count on you two."

"We are _not_ a married couple!" The two argue, blushing madly.

"Are you sure?"

Kim frowns. "Yeah, well, why won't you go tell Milton that you love him instead of worrying about us?"

"Oh, that's a wonderful comeback  _sweetie_ ," Jack deadpans.

"I wasn't coming back, you  _dummy_ ," Kim argues.

Before he could laugh any more at the small spats, Jerry quickly says goodbye to the two, and speed away. Despite the humor in the situation, he has to think about either repressing his feelings or telling him. Either way, they can end not in the way he wants it to.

-x-

"I have a question," Grace says, in her way to initiate a conversation. "How come you never talked until last Monday?"

As promised, Eddie waits for Grace at the end of his day by the door of her last class, history. The two simply walk over to Grace's house, with no problems, or talking, so to speak. Now they're a little beat after discussing deeply with the book they're doing. Even though Kim told him not to deal with Grace, since she doesn't do commitment and that they aren't friends anymore, it doesn't stop Eddie at all. He simply agrees so he can help the head cheerleader with the tough English homework. Not because he likes her... right?

"I didn't feel the need to," Eddie answers.

"You just don't like people, do you?" The cheerleader laughs, knowing exactly what Eddie meant by that comment.

He nods, surprised that Grace knows exactly what he's talking about. It's not that he thought the girl is stupid, it's just that no one understands the reason why he hasn't talked in so many years. To everyone, he seems like a loner; someone that no one wants to talk to, someone that everyone should avoid. Now, things are changing and it's probably for the best.

"Never felt the need to make friends, until last Saturday when I met a group of people from other cliques," Eddie explains.

Saturday, that's the same day when Kim told Grace she had Saturday detention. Speaking of Kim... "Um, you're probably going to think I'm weird or something, but I overheard your conversation with Kim today."

Eddie raises an eyebrow; he thought the girl went to class. Maybe she sensed that her ex-best friend would show up minutes after they started talking... "So you heard that—"

"Yeah," Grace replies, sighing. "I... She's right. I am a commitment-phobe, and I can break hearts because relationships in context scare me. But I'm trying to get over that in hopes of finding that special someone." In which she hopes it's the guy sitting right across from her.

"Okay, but why are you telling me this?" Eddie asks, confused. "I—"

"I know you don't like me like that, silly," Grace laughs nervously, albeit disappointed that he doesn't return the feeling. "I just want you to know to clear whatever conspiracy you received from her." The head cheerleader casts her head down dutifully. "I regret  _everything_ , you know? I regret ending our friendship because of a bunch of stupid bitches who didn't like the fact that Kim was hanging out with you, or Jack, or Jerry." The name causes her to shiver almost involuntarily.

"Maybe you should let her know that," Eddie advises, noticing the crestfallen look on her face.

"I wish," Grace sighs. "She hates me now. I even cried that day when she got mad about being kicked off, mostly because she says she never wants to speak to me again. She's done a lot for me, and I repay her by kicking her off, while it was definitely not in my control."

"Just talk to her - I'm pretty sure she'll understand."

She stares at the guy, and nods, realizing that he's right. Kim doesn't forgive very easily and when she does, it would take a long time to rebuild some kind of trust. Grace should know - it happened before during their first year of friendship. She wouldn't be surprised if Kim doesn't forgive her a second time, but it's worth a shot.

"I guess I should," she says, with some confidence. "Now can you please help me? I'm still confused about this book!"

"What do you mean? This book is easier than the last book she gave us!" Eddie exclaims, holding up the small book they're working on currently. "Come on, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is  _easier_  than this one?"

"That book was good - the movie was even better," Grace smirks. "Come on, seriously? What's not to get about Chief Bromden?"

"He was confusing," Eddie relents.

"He had some past issues because of his Indian background. However, this protagonist doesn't even have a _name_!" Grace frowns. "Okay, I get the whole drug use and stuff, but this bitch is so whiny. God, parents this, best friend that."

"That's about every fifteen year old girl in existence," the ex-mute points out, in an obvious tone.

"I'm pretty sure fifteen year old girls don't run away and engage in  _drug-induced_  parties and perform  _oral sex_  for some acid," Grace deadpans.

"That was the hippie subculture, Grace."

She shrugs. "I know, but I don't understand how she got into the hospital - I mean, she's just babysitting and all of a sudden, she's in the hospital."

"She ate peanuts sprinkled with acid," Eddie explains. "The acid caused her to have a bad trip, because she was thinking of her late grandfather, and so she self-harmed herself during the trip. It happens."

"Oh, I see..." Grace realizes suddenly. "Wow, now I understand it. I should reread this part. Did you get to the ending?"

"Yes I did, but I'm not telling you," the ex-mute teases.

"I bet the ending is just as confusing," the cheerleader groans, snarling at the book in her hand. "Everything's so confusing in this book. If they made a movie out of it, I'd probably understand it more."

Eddie rolls his eyes. "They made a movie out of it already. You probably would still hate it."

"Any movie adaptation is better than reading this shit!" The frustrated Grace slams the book on her desk. "I couldn't read the seven books of Harry Potter because the first two made me fall asleep. I watched the movies to save me the trouble."

" _Nobody_  could read those books in one sitting." The simple comment makes both of the teens laugh hysterically, discussing books that have movie adaptations that would save them from reading books. They barely got any homework done for the night.

-x-

After the talk, Jerry barely got a wink of sleep in the night. Besides his mother's cries from the next room (his father makes his sporadic appearances and he locks the door to save himself from any trouble,) he couldn't stop thinking of the other teen; he's out to his parents and they agree to stop sending him to conversion therapy. At least his parents are taking it one step at a time. But for Jerry, he's lucky if he can live past 21, with his father on his case like that.

He hides his sleep deprivation and depression, the minute he sees one of his friends by the lockers, pulling books out of it. What kind of books, Jerry doesn't give a shit. "How was it yesterday?"

Eddie turns around, and says, "It was okay I guess."

"You guess? You guys didn't do  _anything_?" Jerry presses on, hiding the upcoming yawn with the back of his hand.

"Besides talk and do homework, nope," Eddie replies. "What makes you think I would move  _that_  fast?"

"Wow," Jerry says, surprised. "Normally her hands would be down your pants within two hours of 'discussing homework'."

"She's not like that okay," the other teen defends. "You and Kim both think she's a girl who just has sex with a lot of dudes—I mean, she's a nice girl, with feelings. She does have commitment issues, but she's working on it for, and I quote, 'that special someone'. Maybe you should stop degrading her."

"I'm not degrading her," Jerry defends. "Kim is. And I'm not telling you she's bad news. I basically egged you on to hang out with her. She totally likes you."

"What makes you think she likes me? She doesn't even know me!"

While it's true, Jerry knows exactly what it means. He met Milton ten days ago and he is head over heels for the nerd. "So what? That doesn't mean she doesn't like you. Look, from past experience, I'm just telling you that she likes you and that you should take advantage of that. Normally cheerleaders like her would ignore the likes of you."

"Guess you're right..." Eddie sighs.

"Trust me - next thing you know, you will be triple dating with us. Although Kim would hate you... and probably me once she hears of this."


	4. Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin' It.

"Grace - I need to talk to you." The head cheerleader hears a feminine voice behind her, and she immediately panics.

"Okay then," she replies, losing her train of thought. She turns around, and doesn't flinch when she sees Kim's angry, hateful glare at her. She doesn't expect any less from the blond, since she hates Grace, and now that the commitment-phobe is seeing one of Kim's closest friends...

"I don't know what you're doing, but I don't like it," Kim sneers, getting in closer to Grace's face.

"Wh-what do you mean Kim?" Grace stammers.

"You're obviously hanging with one of my friends to get back at me, aren't you?" The blond accuses.

Now it's Grace's turn to get angry; her face quickly turns to a scowl. "Bitch,  _please_. This has nothing to do with you. As a matter of fact, we were talking before you decided to kick me out of your life, and because we have English together." She leaves out the crush part, because she knows that Kim would get angrier. "You have no room to pick and choose my friends, Kimberly. We're not  _friends_ , remember?"

Kim flinches at the harsh tone. "Yes, but I swear, if you try anything—"

"Like  _what_?" Grace sneers.

Surprised by the retort, Kim folds her arms on her chest. "You know  _exactly_  what I mean."

"Oh - so you assume I'm going to sleep with him, is that it?" The head cheerleader concludes. "Please, sleeping with anyone is the least of my worries. By the way, we briefly mentioned how much I regretted losing your friendship, again, and that he egged me on to talk to you. But you - you just want to keep assuming that I'll sleep with any guy I see. No, it's not like that anymore, and maybe he was wrong. You're still pent up on how I betrayed you, but that's fine. be that way."

Without even trying to hear Kim's reply, Grace angrily slams her locker and storms away, tears evident in her eyes. Kim watches her, with a look of sorrow and regret. If anything, she wishes she can take the comment back, but knowing Grace, it would take time before Kim can talk to her. Or ever; she's never seen her ex-best friend so angry like that. Not even that time when they first fought. The blond sighs and goes over to her own locker, pretending to care much about school.

She also regrets letting go of their dynamic friendship as well, since no other girl was her friend in the first place. Hanging with guys a lot gets boring, the blond amusedly thought.

-x-

Jerry sits down on the floor, his back against his locker, feeling somewhat conflicted about everything. He shouldn't have fallen for someone so fast, and his friends agree with that statement, but some part of him says that his friends are lying - that falling for a person so fast can be possible. But for a person like him, who has been through hell and back with his parents, he's surprised at the fact that he can love, and not be, behaviorally, a sardonic serial heartbreaker. He wants to talk to Milton, but he's pretty sure that the nerd would panic and leave the minute he admits it.

Anyone would panic and run the minute they hear the L word after a week they've been dating. It's only been ten days since for the two.

"Are you okay?" He hears the familiar voice above him, with a confused and concerned tone. He looks up, and meets a very concerned Milton staring down at him.

"Just... thinking."

The nerd sits down next to him, and without any protests, he grabs Jerry's hand and holds on it. "About what?"

"Just... random thinking I guess," Jerry quickly lies, but Milton catches the lie unfortunately.

"You're lying," Milton points out angrily. "What's wrong? You've been down since we last had a conversation... besides the ones on the phone. But this is unlike you."

Jerry knows it's unlike him to suddenly lie like that. He simply cannot fight this battle. "All I know is that..." The teen suddenly removes his hand from Milton's grip, and gets up from the floor. "I shouldn't be feeling this way."

"What the  _hell_  is that supposed to mean?" The nerd suddenly gets up and stops Jerry from walking away by grabbing his arm again, pulling the teen closer. "What's wrong with you?"

"I love you," he whispers dutifully. "And it's way too soon to be feeling this way, or to be saying it in the first place."

The revelation sparks up a sudden silence between them; none of them are expecting to say this... partially at all, but partially when they know that they have some type of emotional connection. Problem is, they already feel the emotional connection. Whether that's from the 'honeymoon phase', or they really unconditionally love each other, they probably never know. The honeymoon phase never occurred to them, however.

"I love you too," the nerd reveals back. "But you're wrong. If you love someone, and you want to tell them, then why should you hold back?"

"You were holding back as well," Jerry retorts.

"Because - I didn't know if you felt the same way. Not because it was  _too soon_  to tell!" Milton cries.

"All this time I've been worrying about if it's too soon to tell you the truth, and you've been worrying about if I didn't return any feelings for you. And then I've been worrying about if you would leave me as soon as I said the L word." Milton nods quickly, although it wasn't much of a question. "Oh... wow, I'm an idiot."

"No you're not," The nerd sighs - he grabs Jerry's hands again, despite that they're in the hallway. "You are  _everything_  to me, you know that? You gave me the confidence to stand up to my parents, because I'd probably still be hauling ass to conversion therapy if I never met you. You showed me that I can be happy with myself. You've done a lot for me, and you probably don't even know it. I... I couldn't ask for anything more than that."

Albeit being a short version of what he wants to say, it's still a surprise when he sees Jerry, in front of him, shed a tear. "You are amazing, Jerry. Don't let anyone else say otherwise."

Despite the students in the hallway, and since they've broken all the rules for their rules of public affection, the Hispanic cups Milton's face, and suddenly kisses him. He's never had someone tell him that and now that someone has said it, someone saying he's overwhelmed is an understatement. The situation is unbeknownst to the pale teen, but he can sense that he said something right. Jerry immediately pulls away, and hugs Milton closely.

"I love you," Jerry whispers.

"I love you too."

-x-

It's a close call, but after saying his resignation speech, Jack couldn't feel more liberated. There's more interesting things than football, especially when Jack's life is getting more hectic - with school, a new girlfriend, and martial arts, it's surprising how the young boy hasn't keeled over in fatigue.

He enters his eerily quiet house and anticipates to do some of his homework, since the dojo isn't open (it has something to do with Rudy and getting hurt) but after hearing some shuffling, he knows his parents are somewhere in the house, doing something, or talking simply. The ex-athlete waves it off and goes to his room, and starts on the promised homework, ignoring any other distractions for right now.

An hour later, he calls it quits, but as soon as he thought about getting up from the chair, his parents rudely waltz in, like knocking is scarce in the household.

"What happened to knocking?" Jack questions, a scowl evident on his face.

"Have you decided yet?" The man he reluctantly calls his father, asks him, like the decision is a life or death situation.

"No greeting either?" Jack sneers.

"Hi dear," his mother greets.

His father rolls his eyes. "So... what's your final decision?"

Jack sighs, waiting for the yell to come after he admits - "I quit the football team today."

If the silence earlier isn't weird, the silence now would be at an all time weird. He knows he disappointed the man in front of him, while his mother smiles that perfect smile, knowing that her son has made the right (and reasonable) choice for his liking. That's beside the point, because the team takes it quite lightly; all of his teammates clap him on the back for the last time before Jack gives the coach his uniform. However for his father, that's another battlefield.

"Why?" His father asks simply - he expected that Jack would enjoy what he enjoyed when he was Jack's age, but he's wrong. He tries to hide the anger, but it's almost no use.

"I don't even like the sport," Jack replies earnestly. "I can't stand it, actually. It was fun when it was just me and you when I was young, but now... I'm done. Even when I was doing football, you were still mad at me. I just can't seem to make you proud, so I just stopped. The minute my coach compared me to you, I completely lost it, because I don't want to be compared to the man who doesn't even want a relationship with his son unless he's doing a sport. Sorry if martial arts isn't manly enough for you because you would rather get rugged up with a bunch of boys than defend yourself in a life-death situation, but I love doing martial arts. It calms me, it surely makes me become one... I'd be yelling at you right now with unintelligible words if I never took martial arts. It's something I prefer."

With that out of the way, he simply looks back at his parents. It's all true; doing something one loves is better than being forced to do something. The anger in his father's face never leaves, but the look in his mother's eyes - he knows he's made the right decision. The woman walks up to her son and hugs him tightly. "I love you, no matter what you do."

"Thanks mom," he whispers.

Unbeknownst to the hugging individuals, the other man angrily, but quietly, walks away from the scene. After they release each other, that's when Jack notices his father is missing.

"I knew he wouldn't take this lightly," he mutters to himself.

"Don't worry, he'll come around eventually." His mother gives him another reassuring smile. "Now, dinner's ready."

-x-

As soon as Kim enters the school for another wasted day, she immediately tries to find her ex-best friend. There's so many things she wants to say and she hopes that the head cheerleader can hear her out for a few minutes. Kim realizes that her words hurt yesterday, and now she's paying for it, pretending that she doesn't care about her ex-best friend, on the contrary, she actually cares for her more than she probably cares for herself, or her boyfriend.

She finds Grace by her locker, looking for books that the blond probably doesn't care about.

"Hey - can we talk?" She asks nonchalantly.

Grace turns around, and instead of replying, she slams her locker and starts to speed away from the blond. Kim quickly grabs the girl's wrist in reflex, stopping her from going any further. "Please?"

"What do you want,  _Kimberly_?" Grace snaps, saying the first name in disgust.

"I deserved that," the blond mutters.

"Just tell me or let go of my wrist because—"

"I'm sorry," Kim cries. "I shouldn't have said any of that yesterday. I was just... I saw you talking to one of my friends, and I panicked. Then you told me that you didn't want to end our friendship at all, and I just felt so bad when I made you... cry. You're basically the only female friend I have, and I should have seen it... you just wanted to help me."

Grace says nothing, keeping her gaze at the hallway. She almost thinks the apology means nothing, but at the same time, there's a doubt in her mind, telling her to forgive and forget. How can she just forget any of this; her ex-best friend basically accused her of things that she had no intention of doing.

Noticing the silence from the other girl, Kim reluctantly continues, "I should have known that you meant no harm. And you're right; I have no right to impose on your friend choices."

"What did you take me for when I started talking to people outside of my clique?" Grace asks.

"I don't know," Kim answers. "I've done it, why shouldn't you?"

Grace sighs. "I hate everyone on the team. I barely talk to them. You were the only person I can talk to and I wouldn't feel judged. You weren't a guy, so of course I didn't have to worry about you checking me out. Everyone just thinks I'm a whore, when in actuality, I just... I can't go through a relationship, and I have no friends except  _you_. I thought if I can talk to some of my classmates and form a friendship with them that I wouldn't feel so alone. And since he went through a year and a half through complete mutism, I thought that he would be a friend that I can relate to... you know? Since our friendship crumbled, I didn't want to feel alone anymore."

"You don't have to," Kim replies, with an earnest smile.

Grace smiles back, and pulls the blond in for a tight hug. "I've missed you."

"So have I," she laughs.

"Looks like you two have talked," the two girls are startled by the voice behind them. They separate immediately, standing about-face at the teen standing in front of them.

"Yeah, we did," Grace smiles. "Uh... can we talk for a minute?"

"Yeah - I also wanted to talk to you."

Kim suddenly jumps a little. "Oh, oh I was just leaving - Jack's probably waiting for me or something." She nudges the brunette on the side, a silent gesture meaning that she knows something is up between them, and speeds off.

"You go first," Eddie says.

"No, you go," Grace says back, a little too quickly.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know, maybe I should go first?"

"Then go first!"

"No, you go first."

Eddie sighs, slapping his forehead on his palm. "If we don't say what we have to say, then we're going to be here all day."

"Heh heh, that rhymes—"

" _Grace_ ," Eddie warns.

"Fine, I'll go first," the cheerleader gives up. "Okay... I kind of... like you more than I  _should_. And I wanted you to come over to my house because I wanted to know you better... and to help me with the book. But I was scared, mainly because your new friend used to be my ex-best friend, and I didn't want her to get more angry at me than she already was... now your turn."

Albeit being a little serious, the two teens start to laugh.

"Well - thanks to a friend - I was wondering if you were free tonight," Eddie wonders, making the other girl smile. "You know... if you want to hang out with me. My friends have a tournament, and—"

"Yeah," Grace smiles happily. "I do."

-x-

After leaving her best friend for their important conversation, Kim goes by her respective locker. She know she was wrong about Grace - the girl only wanted to save her best friend, and now that she understands it, Kim can put another issue in the past and hope that she can see her best friend show a genuine smile for once. She hopes that the lenience to date her new friend can prove that Kim can trust her.

As she goes deeper in thought, she doesn't realise that Jack stands next to her, with a somewhat confused look on his face from the silence, and a crestfallen look from the issues inside his own house.

"Uh, Kim?" Jack wonders - "Penny for your thoughts?"

Kim jumps when she sees Jack standing in front of her, with a confused look. "Sorry. I just - I was thinking about something."

"Hence why I said 'penny for your thoughts'," he chuckles halfheartedly.

"That's not really important right now..." She quickly dismisses, since she notices another conflicting emotion from her boyfriend. "Are you alright? You seem a little...  _off_."

He hoped Kim didn't notice that, but being a girl, they basically see right through anyone. How they are able to do that, Jack may never know. "I'm fine."

"Okay," Kim narrows her eyes in suspicion and continues sarcastically, "So, I'm guessing your parents took your resignation well, I assume. Especially your  _father_ , since he basically pushed you to be a football player—"

"He didn't take it very well," Jack reveals. "In a passive-aggressive move, he walked out and hasn't tried to speak to me since yesterday."

Kim shakes her head - she knows perfectly well that he's trying to hide his emotions. "Did you try talking to him this morning?"

"Yeah, but he ignored me as always," Jack answers. "You know, the usual whenever he's mad at me. He should be yelling at me either the end of the week or if I'm lucky, tonight after the tournament. My mom instead took me to school today since the man I reluctantly call my father decides to walk out on my life."

"He's not going to walk out of your life, he's just surprised," Kim tries to reason. "He wants the best for you, you know that. He'll see how happy you are and try to accept it, because you're his son, and he loves you, despite your choice. He's doing what he loves, and so are you."

"I've been doing both of what he wants, and what I love for so long, and I'm tired of people telling me what I should do," he argues. "If he wants the best of me, he should have went to my tournaments  _and_ my games. Not just my games. My mom comes to the tournaments. Hell, even my teammates come over to the dojo during tournaments when they don't have practice. But he barely looks at me unless I'm wearing my football uniform. And now that I don't have it since I resigned, he doesn't try to do anything."

Kim stares at him for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. Yes, Kim has seen Jack's father countless times during games, yelling and threatening him, but now, what can she say about a father that doesn't agree with his choice to do martial arts? She never received this from anyone, definitely not from her mother, who encouraged her to do whatever she wanted. Kim randomly starts thinking about Saturday, when Jerry Martinez would constantly taunt Jack, and call him 'daddy's boy' and never realized how much that title affected him. That's because, of course, Jerry's a jerk, and the teen hates it when someone hates their father or wishes for them to cease breathing due to the abuse from his home. But could Jack be one, if his own father doesn't appreciate him in the least? "Then maybe he needs to realize how much of an amazing son he has. It's your life, not his. He needs to stop acting like a child, and more of a supporter. As a matter of fact, he should come over to the dojo and watch you during the tournament we have tonight. Hopefully those two losers can get their black belts soon, but that's beside the point. He needs to watch you, and see how happy you look out there. If he can't do that, he doesn't  _deserve_  a son like you."

"You know what, you're right!" He says triumphantly, giving the blond a tight hug. "I should let him know that. Thanks a lot for the advice."

"Great, where's my contribution?" Kim jokes in a fit of the moment.

"You don't get paid to be my girlfriend," Jack snidefully jokes back.

"I didn't mean in  _cash_ , you dummy," she laughs, pulling the other teen closer.

The black belt smirks flirtatiously. "Oh, I see what you mean." He leans in closer and kisses her slowly.

"Get a room!" They hear Jerry yell at them from behind, but they both simply ignore him.

-x-

After almost a long day, the two black belts find themselves driving quickly to the dojo, since the tournament starts in fifteen minutes. They barely have their gi's on—well, let's not speak for Kim, who has half of hers on—and hoping to get there with at least three minutes to spare.

" _Shit_  - Jack, have you seen my black belt?" She asks. With her eyes on the road, she also notices that Jack is trying hard to find his own black belt. He suddenly finds it on the floor and wraps it around his waist.

"Did you take it with you?" He asks.

"I never take it inside my house, I would assume it's in here," Kim answers in an obvious tone. "Open the glove department."

He opens the glove department with the spare key located near the gear shift, and finds a whole lot of papers in there. "Uh, Kim..."

"Don't worry about that," she mutters. "Just find it okay."

He suddenly finds the black belt, and says a quick 'got it' the minute they park inside the mall's parking lt. "I hope we aren't late. The last time I was late to a tournament, Rudy didn't stop talking about it for weeks."

Kim shuts off the ignition and grabs the black belt from Jack's grip. "Thanks; hopefully he won't because I'm gonna have to beat him again if he dares."

"That's my girl," the black belt whispers sarcastically, receiving a slap on the head. "What was that for?"

"For good luck!" She retorts, and they hastily run off to the dojo, where it's already busy with people from the mall, other rival dojos, and Rudy pacing back and forth. "We're in trouble."

"Really," he says sarcastically, and they enter the dojo, going the back way to fix themselves up for the tournament. They hastily fix themselves up; Kim putting her hair in a pony tail and putting on her gi correctly, and Jack fixing himself up. They run out of the back rooms, and as predicted, they have three minutes to spare.

"Where were you two?" The sensei asks out of curiosity.

"Oh you know, trying to finish school?" They retort in unison, which gets a glare from the frustrated older man.

"I have no time for this, the tournament's about to start," he mumbles other unintelligibles, while the couple shrug and sit on the available seats where their other friends are nervously sitting. Even though it's a tournament, the two brown belts get to upgrade their belts today, in which makes them nervous.

"Hey guys," the couple hear three—no, four—voices near them, and they turn around to see their friends—Jerry, Eddie, Grace, and Milton—waving at them from afar. "Good luck!"

They nod as a reply, and keep scanning the crowd. Jack sees his mother walking inside the entrance, and she waves gleefully at her son. His father refused to show up, and his mother admits defeat before angrily speeding off to the dojo, so she's hiding her anger perfectly to support her son. The black belt waves after her.

"At least  _one_  of my parents showed up," he mutters sullenly.

"Oh come on - I'm pretty sure he'll show up the minute you're up." Kim smiles, and watches as some students she barely knows spar each other.

"Yeah, because that's what everyone does during a competition in  _movies_ ," Jack retorts with a bit of sadness and sarcasm.

"Shut up, you're preventing me from watching," Kim hisses, while watching the spar intently. She watches as they kick and throw punches at each other, watching the blocks made by the other person. Although taking martial arts three years ago, she hasn't realized how fascinating it was to watch two people spar again; two people as in people that's not her boyfriend or any of the wackos sitting next to her, looking more nervous than ever.

A couple of hours later, and it's Jack's turn to get on the mat. It's the last duel of the night as well. Kim fights two other opponents and won, and both Brody and Carson upgraded (finally,) to their black belts. He's barely mentally ready to do it, but after seeing the happy grins on his friends' faces, the thumbs up from his mom, and the reassuring hand squeeze from Kim, he simply forgets the real reason why he felt like he wasn't ready. "Well - here I go."

"You kick his butt!" Carson yells, with the new black belt in his hand.

"I'll make sure of it," Jack rolls his eyes, and puts in his head-gear, with his game face on. His opponent is from another dojo, in which he can't recognize but at least it's not one of the Black Dragon cheaters he faced the last time.

Jack starts by dodging the opponent's first punch, then does a backflip to miss the other punch. He throws a series of punches, as he tries not to lose focus. He can't lose focus now; he wants to show the people out there that he can do it; that this is something he enjoys. He ducks as soon as he sees an upcoming kick to his head, and trips the opponent by locking the both of his legs onto the other person's leg. He immediately wins the competition, since the opponent quit, and half of his torso is off the mat. The crowd suddenly cheers for him, while he tries to catch his breath.

"Oh my god, you got it!" Kim yells in happiness, and runs up to the black belt, hugging him immediately. Jack hugs back, and it lingers for almost a minute until he hears his friends clear three throats.

"You were awesome bro!" Jerry runs up to him and gives him a bro hug from behind. The black belt chuckles at the sudden move.

"Agreed," Eddie nods.

"Good show, jolly good show," Milton jokes with a Posh accent, causing Jack to glare at him. "What?"

"And I got my black belt," Carson happily sings, doing a little dance and then throwing his brown belt to the side to put his new belt on.

"I'm happy to say my dojo has  _four_  black belts!" Rudy yells, jumping up and down.

"Overly excited, aren't we?" Kim chides sarcastically with a smirk.

"Shut up Kim," he retorts childishly. "I am the happiest sensei in the world! More happy when Jack got a scholarship to the Otai Academy but didn't take it because, and I quote, 'he didn't wanna leave home'."

"If I left, would your  _lowest rated_  students get their black belts?" Jack chides, pointing to both Brody and Carson, who happily and proudly wear their black belts, suddenly frown at the comment made by the two of them.

"Probably not, but still!" The sensei happily waltzes to his office, while the rest of the students start to leave.

"Hey - I think someone wants to talk to you," Kim nudges Jack, who looks over and sees both of his parents standing there. There's a bit of a smile on his father's face, while there's a goofy grin on his mother's face.

"Guys—"

"Let's go," Kim announces, and all of his friends clear out; Kim, Brody, and Carson to the back of the dojo while his other friends going outside of the dojo. That gives the three occupants in the room to share a silence; a short silence.

Jack looks over to his father with a disappointed look, "Look, if you're going to tell me more about how I shouldn't be doing this, then I don't want to hear—"

"That's not why I came here," his father interrupts him suddenly. "Well, it was, but then I watched you out there. I must say, I'm pretty surprised. You got some moves out there. But then I realized that this is something you enjoy a lot. You looked really happy out there. I guess I never realized that this makes you more happy, and more with your inner self. I'm  _really_  sorry."

"Apology accepted," Jack tearfully smiles, and for the first time in years, gives his father a real, sincere hug.

-x-

One month later

The four (since one of them is 'sick',) friends find a clean table near the door during a busy day at lunch. They ignore the stares that a very few percentage of the kids give them, mostly since they're still not used to the group's closeness. Although it's been a month since the drama ceased, they still have to deal with the stares. That's the least of their worries, anyway.

"You guys should join the dojo," Kim persuades easily. "It can get you into shape."

"And we can all enjoy something together, since everyone in this school kind of rejected us," Jack explains further.

"Speak for yourself," Jerry frowns. "Your teammates still talk to you. And your best friend is a cheerleader. But I'm kind of glad I don't have to deal with idiots anymore."

"I always thought you were the main one," the blond jokes.

"Hey watch it," he frowns deeper. "I'm not an idiot. At least I can comprehend sarcasm."

"Very true, I still can't believe you were friends with Frank the idiot," Eddie points out. "Did something happen to make him  _that_  stupid or is he just naturally stupid?"

"No one knows," Jerry shrugs. "But I think he's naturally stupid. He's an eighteen year old in the ninth grade."

Everyone nods, but they start to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. At the age of eighteen, someone is naturally supposed to be graduating, but for the idiotic bully, it seems that he won't. It doesn't matter; Jerry doesn't have to deal with him anymore.

"But I might check out the dojo today," he says with a small smile. "At least I can find something to do and be away from home for a couple of hours more than I should."

"Yeah," Eddie agrees. "My parents are trying to get me into dancing, but I'm not putting bedazzled tights on, or leotards. Plus, the tournament was fun to watch. I liked that kick thing Kim did that made her win the second time."

"That's nothing, you should've seen the time when I kicked Jack during my first day," she boasts. "He was so caught off-guard that day."

"Yeah yeah, beginner's luck," Jack mutters.

"Oh really, beginner's luck?" She quips. "I'll  _show_  you beginner's luck."

"If you guys start making out, then I'm leaving," Jerry interrupts the two, causing them to glare at him. "I'm serious. Get a room."

"No one says anything when you and your  _boyfriend_  get all hot and heavy in the hallways," Kim retorts halfheartedly.

"Hey - we're awesome," Jerry boasts.

Kim rolls her eyes. "Speaking of your 'awesome' boyfriend, where is he?"

"Oh, he's sick," the ex-badass quickly replies, which makes everyone know that he's lying due to the suggestive smirk following after.

"Yeah, right, more like  _sore_ ," Jack mutters.

"Be real friends and please leave out the sordid details of your sex lives, especially when I'm eating," Eddie frowns, which makes everyone laugh around him. "I'm serious."

"Speaking of sordid details, how about you and Grace?" Jerry questions, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Since the drama died out, the two started a relationship - the reason why they're not sitting together is because Grace is sick. Besides that, they've been more than good - since the school watched the five some get together as friends, they don't exactly care about Eddie and Grace. "We're good."

"Good?" Kim half-yells in flabbergast. "Last week I saw you two playing  _tonsil hockey_ in the same storage closet where Milton and Jerry decided to get hot and heavy in during Saturday detention."

" _That_  storage closet is scarred for life," Jack mumbles.

"Whatever," Eddie rolls his eyes. "I gotta go buy her some soup today - she's sick with the flu."

They all sing a chorus of 'awe' almost immediately. Some of the other teens glance at their table to wonder where the noise is coming from. "Stop it - people are looking."

"Well that sucks for them, because they don't know how awesome we are!" The four others agree on that statement, and continue to talk throughout the end of the period. To think, that these five friends never knew each other before that Saturday - one would be surprised, due to their closeness. And now, each of them, either left their cliques or been booted out of them, can basically say they thank that Saturday detention idea, because they would still see a segregation within the school if they didn't know each other. It's something new for everyone to see - and albeit hiding it well, they're pretty happy for the misfortune of the misfits.

"You know, I'm really happy we met each other that Saturday," Kim smiles.


End file.
